Landships II

CharlieC · Legend

7.7cm FK 96 n.A derivatives

Pat · Commander in Chief

CharlieC wrote:
Anyone have images of the 7.7cm IG?

I have a dozend images of the L/19,5 on display in the Bavarian Army Museum.

It is stamped by Rheinmetall with the year 1918, M1917 and No4. There is a text next to it saying this model was produced in 1918 but none made it to the front.

Light was poor so the images need some doctoring. This is a very busy period for me so I would either have to send them as are soon or send them improved in about two or three months. Regards, Pat

Date: Apr 20, 2014

Charlie I am currently restoring two 77mm WW1 German fieldguns to comemorate the 100th aniversary of the start of the Great War which were given to the Township of Esquimalt in 1919: 1 FK 96 n/A #595 captured Cambrai Sept 1918 and 1 NK L/27 captured at Vimy Ridge April April 09,1917. I can be contacted at mike.reed@esquimalt.ca if you want photos of both guns.

Mike

CharlieC · Legend

I've parked this project for the moment. I found that the German Army had a clearly defined doctrine for infantry guns. There were defined roles for the minenwerfer (mortars),

infanterie geschutze and infanterie begleit (accompanying) guns. This doctrine was tied into the overall doctrines promoted by Col. Georg Bruchmuller. I'm waiting for a book

on Bruchmuller's artillery practice. I'll get back to this project once I've digested the book.

The problem the Germans appear to have had was to find a suitable gun for the infanterie geschutze role.

Here's a teaser - under Bruchmuller's direction a greater weight of artillery fire fell on the Allies in the first 4 hours of the Michael offensive in 1918 than the British

fired in 6 weeks on the Somme in 1916.

Regards,

Charlie

CharlieC · Legend

I've been emailing a guy in Esquimalt , BC, Canada who is restoring a gun they thought might be an 7,7cm IG L/27.

The Esquimaut gun seems to be a Nahkampfkanone but one his informants came up with a bunch of surviving IGs in

North America. There seem to be IG survivors in Taber, Alberta - Peace River, Alberta - Boalsburg, PA (Pennsylvania Military Museum) -

Thomaston (no idea which state - there are about 5 Thomastons in the USA). The image is the gun at Boalsburg.

Regards,

Charlie

-- Edited by CharlieC on Sunday 4th of May 2014 02:43:21 AM

-- Edited by CharlieC on Sunday 4th of May 2014 10:32:17 AM

CharlieC · Legend

Looking at the images of the 7,7cm IG L/27s at Boalsburg,PA - Taber, Alberta and Peace River, Alberta. All of these guns have flanges on the wheels

which seem to be about the same width as the original steel tire. Anyone have any ideas what these were for? Reducing ground pressure is possible

but why are the flanges a smaller diameter than the wheel?

The image of the Boalsburg gun is in the previous post - Taber and Peace River guns attached.

Regards,

Charlie

-- Edited by CharlieC on Sunday 4th of May 2014 11:48:41 AM

-- Edited by CharlieC on Sunday 4th of May 2014 11:48:55 AM

Pzkpfw-e · Commander in Chief

I'd hazzard a guess, that like the modern lorries with extra wheels, that aren't in contact with the road, unless they're loaded, they'll reduce the ground pressure in soft going, but won't increase drag when the gun's being towed and manouevered on harder surfaces.

CharlieC · Legend

That's certainly possible. It's a bit of a puzzle why not all of the IGs had the flanges - the two survivors in Australia and New Zealand don't have them or any sign there were flanges

on the wheels. Add in the IG at Thomaston, CT - also has flanged wheels - I found a better image of this gun.

Regards,

Charlie

-- Edited by CharlieC on Monday 5th of May 2014 04:32:02 AM

CharlieC · Legend

Herbert Jäger agrees with the flanges being a method of improving mobility over soft ground. I guess the guys hauling on the 76.2mm IG L/16.5 in the attached image would have liked to have a set of flanges

fitted.

Regards,

Charlie

Baldrick · Private

I have what appears to be a semi-restored L27 in my garage, in the process of getting the wheels restored at the moment.

It has L97 stamped beneath the breech, is it an L27 or L97

And yes it does make a nice bang with a black powder charge in her.

Can someone send me a couple of photos of the wheels without the flanges. Im looking to see if they had countersunk bolts through the steel and wooden section of the rim.

-- Edited by Baldrick on Tuesday 9th of March 2021 10:05:12 AM

CharlieC · Legend

Umm... you do know the FK 96 IG had smaller wheels than the standard field gun - 960mm diameter is quoted.

The attached image from the interwar museum at Fontainbleu shows how much smaller the IG wheels were.

Charlie